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Kyrene, Kyrenaika, North Africa, c. 325 - 313 B.C.
Silphium, which is now extinct, was so critical to the Kyrenian economy that most of their coins depict it. The plant was used as a spice and to treat all kinds of maladies including cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, pain, and warts. It was so widely used as a contraceptive that it was worth its weight in denarii. The traditional heart shape, the symbol of love, is probably derived from the shape of the silphium seed due to the use of silphium as an contraceptive. "By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it." - Description of Greece, Pausanias 3.16.3, 2nd Century A.D.
GB98571. Bronze AE 16, Asolati 12/1; BMC Cyrenaica p. lxviii, 198b, pl. XIX, 12; Buttrey Cyrene I 137; Müller Afrique 22 var. (no fruit); SNG Cop 1226 var. (same), aF, rough corroded surfaces, the reverse better, Kyrene (near Shahhat, Libya) mint, weight 3.898g, maximum diameter 16.3mm, die axis 180o, 325 - 313 B.C.; obverse head of Apollo Karneios right, short curly hair, THP (magistrate) upward behind; reverse Three silphium plants arranged in triskeles pattern seen from above, heart shaped fruit at center, K-Y-P around divided by stalks, all within a linear circle border within a round incuse; ex CNG e-auction 494 (23 Jun 2021), lot 257; rare; SOLD
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